Warp knitting machine

ABSTRACT

A warp knitting machine, particularly a stitching machine, having a reciprocating weft laying device is provided with devices for handling webs together with weft threads as the weft materials. The weft laying device is provided with means for guiding in a mutually parallel array weft material constituted of at least one set of weft threads and at least one web. As in applicant&#39;&#39;s patented parent application, to assure that the weft materials, particularly the webs, do not twist when they are pushed onto needles of transport chains at the motion reversal points of the weft laying device, for operation in conjunction with the devices for pushing the webs onto the needles are provided devices for retaining the weft materials in untwisted configurations as they are pushed onto the needles.

United States Patent Heilmann et al.

[4 Sept. 23, 1975 WARP KNITTING MACHINE [75] Inventors: Fery Heilmann,

Limbach-Oberfrohna; Peter Edel, Karl-Marx-Stadt, both of Germany [73] Assignee: Institut fur Textilmaschinen,

Karl-Marx-Stadt, Germany [22] Filed: July 12, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 488,127

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 375,309, June 29,

I972, Pat. No. 3,824,811.

[52] U.S. Cl. 66/84 A; [51] Int. Cl. D04B 23/06 [58] Field of Search 66/86, 85, 84, 85 A, 84 A; 28/1 CL [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,890,579 6/1939 Mauerberger 66/84 3,327,501 6/l967 Bahlo 3,603,!14 9/l97l .laskukulski 66/85 A Kemter 66/84 A Heilmann ct al. 66/84 A [57] ABSTRACT A warp knitting machine, particularly a stitching machine, having a reciprocating weft laying device is provided with devices for handling webs together with weft threads as the weft materials. The weft laying device is provided with means for guiding in a mutually parallel array weft material constituted of at least one set of weft threads and at least one web. As in applicants patented parent application, to assure that the weft materials, particularly the webs, do not twist when they are pushed onto needles of transport chains at the motion reversal points of the weft laying device, for operation in conjunction with the devices for pushing the webs onto the needles are provided devices for retaining the weft. materials in untwisted configurations as they are pushed onto the needles.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 1 of 2 3,906,748

Sheet 2 of 2 3,906,748

Sept. 23, 975

US Patefit WARP KNITTING MACHINE This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. application Scr. No. 375,309, filed June 29, 1972, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,81 I.

This invention relates to a modification of the apparatus described in the above referred to parent application, which description is hereby incorporated in the present application by reference.

The apparatus to a modification of which the present invention relates is a warp knitting machine. in particular, a stitching machine, having a series of pointed knitting needles, with which is associated at least one laying bar fitted with pointed eye needles, further comprising means for supplying threads which are to be laid in weft direction by means of a laying device located before the stitch-forming point, which laying device, actuated by a common drive, moves back and forth between two transport means for the threads, limiting the work width and fitted with hooks. The laying device consists essentially of two hold-downs which can be set in operation alternately at the motion reversal points and each of which is connected through a coupling member with a system of pivotable levers and of guide means for the threads to be laid.

A warp knitting machine of the above described kind for the production of a textile material is already known. For the purpose of laying of a thread group cross-wise between two transport means, this machine is equipped with a reciprocating weft thread laying device. Due to the laying of the weft thread group, a layer of such threads is formed, which layer is fed to the stitchformin'g point by the transport means. The stitchforming point consists essentially of a series of pointed knitting needles, which cooperates with a laying bar equipped with pointed eye needles. erpendicularly thereto there are provided also a stitch plate and counter-holding means for locking in the threads to be processed. In the known warp knitting machine the thread material is supplied by a bobbin creel, there being arranged between the latter and the weft thread laying device a tensioning device compensating for fluctuations in the thread requirement and subject to spring action. The weft thread laying device itself comprises a support element mounted for reciprocating movement on a rod to which is fastened a parallel four-bar linkage. The latter has two pivotably movable double levers arranged one above the other, the ends of which are connected articulatedly with a coupling member for each, on both sides. Toward the weft thread layer the coupling members are each provided with an elongation followed by a hold-down. Before the holddowns, run-up rolls are provided at the coupling members, so that the parallel four-bar transmission is alternately movable up and down at the motion reversal points of the weft thread laying device. For this purpose a run-up cam for each is arranged at the motion reversal points. The guiding of the weft threads occurs at the weft thread laying device on the entrance side by guide rods and on the exit side by means of a series of pointed eye needles corresponding to the number of weft threads of the thread group. When the weft thread laying device reaches in its reciprocating movement between the transport means a motion reversal point, then the outer run-up roll together with its coupling member is moved upward over the run-up cam present at that place, so that the, in this position inner, holddown presses the weft-thread group under the plane of the hooks of the transport means. In the interaction with the movement of the respective transport means toward the stitch-forming point, the weft threads get into the hooks of the transport means and are thereupon placed around the hooks, that is, seized by them. the weft thread laying device beginning its movement toward the other side over onto the transport means there. When the weft thread laying device gets to the other transport means, the same process occurs of the transfer of the weft threads to the hooks of this transport means. These cycles, carried out in any desired number, result in a zig-zag type crossed thread layer, which serves as base material of the textile material to be produced.

The desired warp knitting machine with its weft thread layer serving as the laying device cannot be used for the laying of webs, this in particular for the reason that single thread guide elements are provided in the form of pointed eye needles. If the pointed eye needles were simply replaced by a slot, undesirable crosswise displacements of the web would occur, with the result that a transfer to the hooks of the transport means would be practically impossible. The term web is intended to include both unitary webs and parallel arrays of narrower unitary webs.

According to the invention of the parent application, the aforementioned disadvantages in the laying of webs are overcome. In particular, for the purpose of the laying of webs there are provided as guide means for the same on the side of the laying device facing the transport means, a slot and two retention devices which can alternately be brought into operating position. The arrangement of the retention device together with the slot insures a satisfactory transfer of the web to the hooks of the transport means, in particular in that due to the functioning of the retention devices a crosswise displacement of the web does not occur.

The apparatus of the parent application is not suitable for processing as the weft material at least one set of weft threads together with the web or webs. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus having this additional capability. Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

According to the present invention, in an apparatus of the type described in the parent application, the weft material guide means comprises respective means defining a slot for guiding each web and respective means defining at least one opening for guiding each set of weft threads substantially parallel to the web, each of the web guiding means and weft threads guiding means being located above and in a plane transverse to the plane in which the webs are laid. There may be provided respective means for guiding each web to the weft material guide means and respective means for guiding each set of weft threads to the weft material guide means. In one preferred embodiment according to the present invention, the weft material guide means is constituted of means defining two parallel slots for guiding respective webs and, between the slots, means for guiding at least one set of weft threads parallel to the webs. Moreover, as in the patented parent application, the retaining means preferably comprises pointed members for pricking the web when the combination of hold-down means and retaining means are in operative position. In that case, the slots of the weft material guide means extend transversely to the pointed members. The means for guiding each web to the weft material guide means may comprise a roller and a bar adjacent and axially parallel to the roller and the weft threads guiding means may comprise means defining a row of eyelets substantially parallel to the slots. In another preferred embodiment, the weft material guide means is constituted of means defining a slot for guiding at least one web and on each side of the slot respective means for guiding a respective set of weft threads parallel to the web or webs.

The invention will now be further described by reference to specific embodiments, as illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly sectional side view of the laying device of the invention in operation;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged representation of a detail of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 corresponds to FIG. 1, but illustrates the device being used in a different manner; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged representation of a detail of FIG. 3, analogous to FIG. 2.

The laying device 1 described in the parent application is modified in accordance with FIG. 1 by provision between and in proximity to the respective guide rollers 1, 3, of respective guide bars 4, 5, between which a strip 6 having two rows of eyes for respectively guiding the weft thread groups 7, 8 is arranged. The guide roller 2 together with the guide bar 4 and the guide roller 3 together with the guide bar serve as respective means for guiding the respective webs 9, 10 of slit foil. The respective bars 4, 5 also serve to guide the respective groups of weft threads 7, 8. All the weft material is fed from the aforementioned guide means to the slot guide 11. The slot guide 11 includes two outer slots 14, 15, which are disposed transversely to the tines 12 of the comb 13, for receiving the webs 9, l0 and thread guiding means 16 disposed between the slots 14, 15. The thread guiding means 16 comprises a row of twice the number of thread eyes as in each of the rows of thread eyes in the eye strip 6. All the rows of thread eyes are substantially parallel. Threads from the respective rows of eyes in the strip 6 are guided in alternate eyes of the thread guiding means 16. The product obtained by stitching warp threads transversely across the weft thus contains within the weft webs 9, 10 consisting of foil, 21 number of weft threads. According to another variant, the webs 9, 10 are fed in between the groups of V weft threads 7, 8 (FIG. 3). For this purpose, three guide rollers 2, 3, l7 and four eye strips l8, 19, 20, 21 are provided. According to FIG. 4, the slot guide 22 is provided with a central slot 22 and two outer thread guiding means 24, 25, each of which is, for example, a row of eyelets parallel to the slot 23. The slot 23 and the thread guiding means 24, 25 are transverse to the tines 12. The resultant product has weft threads on both surfaces of the weft material and, for example, a foil in the interior. Also, if one group of weft threads 7, 8 is omitted, a covering of weft threads on only one side is ob tained. Similarly, many other combinations of sets of weft threads and webs may be processed on machines according to the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a warp knitting machine, particularly a stitching machine, comprising a series of pointed knitting needles which operate in a stitching Zone, associated with the series of needles at least one laying bar, mounted on the laying bar a series of pointed eye needles, weft laying means located before the stitching zone for laying a continuous length of material in the weft direction, two transport means provided with hooks for receiving the weft material and located at the motion reversal points of the laying means, the laying means comprising means for guiding the weft material and two hold-down means for pressing the weft material into engagement with the hooks at the respective motion reversal points of the laying means, the improvement in which the laying means is adapted for laying at least one web together with at least one set of weft threads as the weft material, the weft material guide means comprises respective means defining a slot for guiding each web and respective means defining at least one opening for guiding each set of weft threads substantially parallel to the web, each of said web guiding means and weft threads guiding means being located above and in a plane transverse to the plane in which the webs are laid, respective means for guiding each web to the weft material guide means and respective means for guiding each set of weft threads to the weft material guide means and the laying means further comprises mounted for movement with each of the holddown means a respective retaining means and means for moving each combination of hold-down means and retaining means between an inoperative position when the combination is not adjacent the hooks and in which the hold-down means and the retaining means are positioned above a plane in which the hooks are open and an operative position when the combination is adjacent the hooks and in which the hold-down means is positionedin or on the far side of a plane in which the hooks are open thereby to press the web into the hook openings and the retaining means engages the web between the weft material guide means and the hooks.

2. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1, in the improvement in which the weft material guide means is constituted of means defining two parallel slots for guiding respective webs and, between said slots, means for guiding at least one set of weft threads parallel to the webs.

3. Warp knitting machine according to claim 2, in the improvement in which the retaining means comprise pointed members for pricking the webs when the combination is in operative position and the slots extend traversely to said pointed members.

4. Warp knitting machine according to claim 3, in the improvement in which the means for guiding each web to the weft material guide means comprises a roller and a bar adjacent and axially parallel to the roller and the weft threads guiding means comprises means defining a row of eyelets substantially parallel to the slots.

5. Warp knitting machine according to claim'2, in the improvement in which the weft material guide means is constituted of means defining a slot for guiding at least one web and on each side of said slot respective means for guiding a respective set of weft threads parallel to said at least one web.

6. Warp knitting machine according to claim 5, in the improvement in which the means for guiding each set of weft threads to the weft material guide means comprises at least one means defining a row of eyelets for the threads. 

1. In a warp knitting machine, particularly a stitching machine, comprising a series of pointed knitting needles which operate in a stitching zone, associated with the series of needles at least one laying bar, mounted on the laying bar a series of pointed eye needles, weft laying means located before the stitching zone for laying a continuous length of material in the weft direction, two transport means provided with hooks for receiving the weft material and located at the motion reversal points of the laying means, the laying means comprising means for guiding the weft material and two hold-down means for pressing the weft material into engagement with the hooks at the respective motion reversal points of the laying means, the improvement in which the laying means is adapted for laying at least one web together with at least one set of weft threads as the weft material, the weft material guide means comprises respective means defining a slot for guiding each web and respective means defining at least one opening for guiding each set of weft threads substantially parallel to the web, each of said web guiding means and weft threads guiding means being located above and in a plane transverse to the plane in which the webs are laid, respective means for guiding each web to the weft material guide means and respective means for guiding each set of weft threads to the weft material guide means and the laying means further comprises mounted for movement with each of the hold-down means a respective retaining means and means for moving each combination of hold-down means and retaining means between an inoperative position when the combination is not adjacent the hooks and in which the hold-down means and the retaining means are positioned above a plane in which the hooks are open and an operative position when the combination is adjacent the hooks and in which the hold-down means is positioned in or on the far side of a plane in which the hooks are open thereby to press the web into the hook openings and the retaining means engages the web between the weft material guide means and the hooks.
 2. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1, in the improvement in which the weft material guide means is constituted of means defining two parallel slots for guiding respective webs and, between said slots, means for guiding at least one set of weft threads parallel to the webs.
 3. Warp knitting machine according to claim 2, in the improvement in which the retaining means comprise pointed members for pricking the webs when the combination is in operative position and the slots extend traversely to said pointed members.
 4. Warp knitting machine according to claim 3, in the improvement in which the means for guiding each web to the weft material guide means comprises a roller and a bar adjacent and axially parallel to the roller and the weft threads guiding means comprises means defining a row of eyelets substantially parallel to the slots.
 5. Warp knitting machine according to claim 2, in the improvement in which the weft material guide means is constituted of means defining a slot for guiding at least one web and on each side of said slot respective means for guiding a respective set of weft threads parallel to said at least one web.
 6. Warp knitting machine according to claim 5, in the improvement in which the means for guiding each set of weft threads to the weft material guide means comprises at least one means defining a row of eyelets for the threads. 